The NFL has announced that it found “no evidence” the Cleveland Browns purposely lost games or offered bonuses to do so after their former head coach, Hue Jackson, alleged in February the team tried to lose during the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
The league said on Monday that a 60-day independent review determined “none of the allegations could be substantiated.” Former US Attorney Mary Jo White led the investigative team.
Jackson went 3-36-1 in two-plus seasons for Cleveland before he was fired eight games into the 2018 season. Jackson had claimed Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam incentivized people in the organization to lose over a four-year period. Jackson later softened those comments.
The investigation concluded there wasn’t evidence supporting Jackson’s claims the team “tanked” during those seasons, and the club’s ownership or football personnel “made no decisions deliberately to weaken the team to secure a more favorable draft position.”
The Browns went 1-15 in 2016 and lost all 16 games the following season under Jackson. The poor run allowed the team to secure the No 1 overall pick in the 2017 and 2018 drafts, which they used to select star players Myles Garrett and Baker Mayfield.
White and other lawyers interviewed Jimmy Haslam along with current and former members of the organization. The league said Jackson initially agreed to meet with investigators before deciding against it. The investigators had access to Jackson’s public statements and filings and testimony in a prior arbitration proceeding. The league said the Browns also provided documents, including emails, texts, internal memos and presentation decks to assist the inquiry.
The Browns have consistently denied Jackson’s assertions, and said they are pleased with the investigators’ findings.
“We appreciate the independent investigation led by Mary Jo White and the Debevoise team which brings closure to these allegations that Hue Jackson publicly recanted shortly after they were made and that we’ve known all along are categorically false,” said team spokesman Peter Jean-Baptiste. “As we’ve previously stated, we welcomed this investigation because the integrity of our game is something that should not be taken lightly and an independent review was crucial in bringing a conclusion to this matter.”
Tanking is a tacitly acknowledged practice in the league: NFL teams in a rebuilding phase often trade away their best players, something that usually leads to poor results and better draft selections with which to build for the future. However, deliberately losing is a different matter and would be hard to achieve as, aside from their competitive pride, players and coaches know their future employment in the NFL depends on producing results. Deliberately losing in order to fix bets is a federal crime and Jackson at no point suggested gambling was a motivating factor when he went public with his allegations.
Jackson’s allegations came after former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores said he was offered $100,000 bonuses to lose by the team’s owner, Stephen Ross. The Dolphins have denied those claims. Flores’ allegations were part of a lawsuit that alleges the NFL and its teams discriminate against Black head coaches and the league is run like “a plantation”.
Jackson is currently coaching in college football at Grambling.
